The Love of Time
by ZenoTheManager
Summary: Times have changed, evil has faded, and the world is a different place. Relationships have broken, others have formed, yet the hero is not able to handle the ones around him. He runs away, from his life and all, and tries to start a new life, only to be thrown into a one more hectic than the one he left.
1. The Journey(Two Months Ago)

My name's Sonic the Hedgehog, I mean that's obviously not my real name, that would be ridiculous, but a superhero cant use their real name real name now can they? I've had an interesting life; ran faster than anyone thought possible, fought evil intentions, but one thing always escaped me...Amy Rose. I know what your thinking 'Oh yeah typical superhero story, fall in love with a girl that loves you.' and you might be right to think that. Whatever it is you think though, I knew my feelings, and they were more real than you could possibly imagine.

I remember when I met her, when Eggman had decided his next target was The Little Planet, and I was forced to save her. It was funny that it was then for her that she fell in love with me. For her it was love at first sight I suppose, but not for me. For me it had come much later, like way later. We had basically grown up together, fighting evil when we were young, but something changed as we grew up, as more years passed. Evil...faded, I want to say. Eggman disappeared from our lives, and the world in general, and no one else rose to take his place...so the team settled down. It was then that I found my love.

Without all the hectic times nearly dying, I began to really notice her, I started falling in love with her but by that point I'm sure you realize that it had already been too late. My constant rejection of her had driven her away and she had fallen for the extraordinarily bright Shadow. Eventually broke down and fell in love with her and...poof, they're a couple. Of course the entire team supported it as they quote on quote "Saw it coming." I of course did my part and(Subscribed to PewDiePie) 'supported it' but it had really taken a toll on my emotions. Karma wasn't my friend.

It was then that I had really started detaching from our 'team.' For about a year I slowly stopped talking to everyone: avoiding group get-togethers, making up excuses for not hanging out with people, but eventually it all began to get overwhelming. I had to do something...That lead me to two months ago.

I woke up at about 7 in the morning, my normal time. A weird type of excitement built inside of me as I woke up, as I knew this would be my final time waking up in this house. Tails and I lived in a house on the outskirts of Soleanna, probably one of the most beautiful cities that's ever been built, but to me it had become a place of pain and suffering. It seemed no matter where I went in the city, they were always there, flaunting their love and affection as I wished I had done. Perhaps it was my punishment for pushing Amy away, maybe it was something, but it didn't matter anymore.

I finished packing my things into a bag then slung in over my shoulder and walked to my door taking one deep breath then sped downstairs. I had the perfect plan: I would leave around this time, when people thought I was taking my usual morning run, then I would head towards Emerald Beach. Emerald Beach was a nice little town next to the ocean, which was perfect for hiding myself. Not many people called it their home, and even then, the people who were there tended to live a life of no technology, choosing rather to live by the land. I smiled just thinking of the isolation I would have by going there, perhaps making new friends and finding a new path for myself. I bolted down the stairs and was almost to the front door when someone made me stop in my tracks.

"Hey Sonic can I talk to you." A voice said behind me, scaring me a bit. I turned around and saw Tails sitting on the couch looking extremely distressed.

"Yeah, what's up?" I said setting my bag next to the door and walked over to the chair opposite to him, taking a seat.

"I've noticed you've been...pulling away." He stated not looking me in the eyes. "Why?"

"It's just...well...things are different now little buddy. We all have our interests, and we were all held together by our goal. Fighting evil. Now that...that's gone, we're bound to fall apart." I half lied to him. Leaving him would hurt the most, I knew that much to be true, but I also knew he'd survive. He was a fighter, since the very beginning, and that wouldn't change after I was gone.

"Sonic, I think it has something to do with Amy." He said and I had to hold back my emotions, instead forming a smile on my face.

"Now why would you think that?" I asked him as cooly as I possibly could manage, but he was playing with fire now.

"Well I've noticed...It's been since Shadow and Amy got together. You've become more and more...closed off." Tails told me finally looking me in the eyes, which were red from exhaustion. My grin widened, I had to play this off perfectly or I wouldn't be able to leave.

"Don't worry little buddy, I'm not in love with Amy." I told him with a fake laugh, he immediately calmed down a bit then smiled broadly.

"Alright, but you better be here when the party starts." Tails said happily, confusing me entirely.

"Um...what's the party for?" I asked very confused. I had been so focused on figuring out my plan I must've missed out on the party info.

"I told you yesterday." He said which confirmed the fact that I was not paying attention. I had spent the majority of my previous day planning this entire thing, so I would be able to perfectly slip away. "It's for Shadow and Amy's anniversary."

"Oh yeah I'll be there." I lied immediately, knowing for certain there was no way I was going to be going to that fakers party. I was so glad I had chosen today to leave. I stood up and effortlessly sped to the door, and picked up my bag. "See ya later little buddy."

I sped off from that house, that life, and those people that had put so much weight on my shoulders. I hit the speed of sound and a loud boom emanated from behind me. I was finally getting away from the pain, finally reaching freedom as I watched the city fade into the horizon, and as I kept running I felt better and better. Even though I was leaving Tails behind, other people I had considered friends, I knew this was for the best; I was a hero, but now, I just wanted my own life. Not life bound by the past, but life for the future. I knew they would come looking for me, it was bound to happen, but as I mentioned, I had planned everything.

The rest of the journey wasn't special but when I got to Emerald Beach, that's where things changed. The weather had turned nasty and an intense storm barreled into the coast. This change in weather did not affect my plans, there wasn't going to be anything that stopped me. I sped over to a boat shop that was near the beach. There was only one person in the shack and it was an 18 year old neon blue cat who looked as if he really didn't want to be there.

"I need to buy a boat." I said quickly, excitement building within me.

"In this weather? You have some serious guts. How big of a boat do you need?" He asked in a calm, deep voice.

"Small, closed cabin" I told him as rain began to pour even harder and faster, wetting my entire body.

"That'll be a thousand rings." He then looked up at the sky, grimacing slightly. "Good luck man."

"I have to." I said confidently and handed him the money. He then gestured to the dock that stuck out at the very end of the right side of the beach, then handed me some keys.

"Pick one." He said simply. I ran over to the docks and chose the dark blue boat called the 'Blue Ruby.' I started up the small boat using the controls in a small control room with three walls, windows, and an open facing place to get in and out. I zoomed off of the dock, as fast as I could.

I pushed further, despite the large waves, and immense amount of rain barreling into the windows of the boat. While the world seemed angry and unhappy, I was happier than I could be. This was my escape from all of them, from Shadow and Amy, from having to be a hero, from the things that sat on my shoulders. This all came to a grinding halt when I slammed into a wave I wasn't quite prepared for. I was knocked off my feet and slammed my head into the ceiling, as well as the ground, which put me into a dazed state.

"No..." I groaned weakly as my body tumbled out of the cabin, heading towards the edge of the boat. This couldn't be my end, this just couldn't just stop here. I tried to grip onto anything as I slid on the wet wood of the boat, but nothing helped me, and I slipped off the edge, into the unfriendly water. For a unknown amount of time I sank into the water, completely disoriented by the storm, and even though I was surrounded by water, tears fell from my eyes. This was it, my selfishness has sent me over the edge. If I had just been a little more understanding, a little more active, a little more-

"Get a hold of yourself dumb ass." A sarcastic voice said to me from seemingly no where.

And that was the beginning of my relationship with Zinex.


	2. Fights of the Unconscious

"I'd be nice if you could, you know, do something." I called out to the yellow and black patterned hedgehog, as I spin dashed a robot. What the hell was that guy doing. I glanced over and saw him looking out towards the water, holding his large mace in his right hand.

"I'm busy, just give me a moment man." He said holding his hand out as he kept looking out towards the ocean. I growled and rolled my eyes as I dodged a crab robot, as it tried to pierce my skin.

"Worst timing ever Zinex." I muttered as I spun into a ball and slammed into the crab, launching myself towards another set of them and quickly finishing them off.

Recently, big egg Robotnik's robots had begun attacking in small hordes along Emerald Beach. They would arrive from the ocean on small boats, ready for battle and attack, but they didn't seemed to be aimed at anything in particular. They just caused damage to the poor innocent people of the town who didn't know any better. I glanced over at Zinex and saw him finally doing something, but he was in way over his head. About 20 of the robots, all of differing sizes and models, surrounded him. He quickly spun his mace, smashing three, but that wasn't going to be enough. I quickly bolted over towards him and spin dashed into five, drawing their attention to both of us.

"Thanks." He muttered, swinging his hammer into the faces of five more robots, knocking their bodies onto the darkened sand of the barely morning day. Suddenly the robots stopped circling us and began to retreat back towards the ocean, in the boats they had come from, which Zinex definitely didn't like. "Where are you going! The party's just started! At least stay for the light show!"

"Oh no." I muttered, running back quickly, I knew exactly what was about to happen. He raised his left hand and a huge flash covered the beach, followed by a loud bang. The robots that had been trying to escape on the boat were doomed to death. A giant lightning bolt had slammed into the large boat, lighting the entire thing on fire, frying the circuits of every single one of the robots.

"Well you think that woke the town up?" Zinex asked looking out into the horizon with a satisfied smile on his face, though I could see that there was smoke coming from his left hand.

"To be honest, I think you woke everyone in the world up." I told him with a laugh and he gave me a sideways grin.

"Think we'll make the news this time?" He asked. We had never made the news for our efforts, as they were always early in the morning or late at night. No one was awake, no one was here to witness it. Just as I liked it to be.

"I certainly hope not..." I said actually concerned. He turned left and began walking quickly, headed towards the cabin that we both shared.

"Don't worry, that girl your hiding from wont find you." He said nonchalantly, baffling me for a full 5 seconds. I quickly regained my train of thought and ran up next to him.

"How did you know about that?" I asked, both astounded and embarrassed. I wasn't sure at all how he had known. I hadn't told anyone about Amy Rose.

"You talk in your sleep." He shrugged, not stopping his quick stride. He was quite an odd person. He wore an unnecessary amount of clothing. He wore a black shirt, black pants, black metal boots, and a long black trench coat to top it all off.

"No I don't." I said in a matter of fact tone. Zinex stopped immediately then looked at me, making me do a weird move to try not to fall over.

"Really?" He asked surprised, his face contorted in full thought, as if it were something he just couldn't understand. "You know I could have sworn that trick works every single time. I mean it does in all the movies."

"How did you know?" I repeated, and he shrugged his shoulders and kept walking.

"Plasmus did some investigating into you." Zinex told me, putting his mace into his holster slung across the back of his trench coat. "You always have to know your friends Sonic."

"You snooped in my life?" I asked irritated, but Zinex didn't even look at me or react. He just kept on walking towards the cabin.

"Look, there are a lot of people in this world. No matter if they preach good or evil, they hurt people...I had to make sure you were okay to be around." He said in such a simple voice, but it hit me deeper than it probably should have. I couldn't say anything else after that, as all my thought had turned towards Amy. Like, what was she doing these days? Was she still with Shadow? Did she look different? As we neared the cabin I couldn't help but get more and more curious as to how he had found information no one else could have. I hadn't told anyone but Tails, and he didn't seem like the kind of guy to-

"How did you know I loved her?" I asked impulsively and we both stopped walking; his lightning yellow eyes bore into me.

"Miles Prower has a running theory on why you left. It just so happens that he only told his diary this theory he had." He explained then looked over to the ocean once again. "Which of course our incognito blue friend went through. By the way I only have one more word to say: Proximity."

I immediately knew what this meant, someone was watching us. My entire body went on high alert as I did my best not to look around, that would only bring more attention to us. This was the kind of Mobian Zinex was, suspicious and planning. He had all these code words and phrases I had to learn, just so he would shut up about it, but this was the first time it had actually come in handy. I turned over to him, and looked him in the eyes.

"What time are we supposed to get there?" I asked methodically, remember what he had told me. I needed to remember the hands on a clock if I wanted to find where he thought the person was.

"About 9 o'clock. Old boy Plasma said he was throwing quite the banger. I think we should go get ready." He told me seriously. Whoever was watching us was to my left, back towards the city. He then turned around and quickly entered the cabin, and I was right on his tail. Zinex quickly shut the door an turned the lights on, scanning his eyes across the cabin.

The cabin wasn't very big, it was only one level with three room and a single bathroom with a shower. There were two main bedrooms and one kitchen/living room. Due to Zinex's secretive nature, there was only one window that was allowed to be open in his presence, and that was the window in my room, everything else was covered in three layers of curtins.

"Who was following us?" I asked but Zinex didn't answer, he just walked into the kitchen and put his hands on the counter, looking absolutely distressed. I walked around to the opposite side of the counter and looked at him. "Who were they Zinex?"

"G.U.N. agents." He said exasperated, then looked me in the eyes. He lightning yellow eyes full of distress."The press is here too, your little girl won't have any trouble finding you now."


	3. On The Run

"What do you mean G.U.N agents?" I asked in pure confusion. Last time I checked the G.U.N. didn't have a bounty on me or Zinex, but then again knowing him, he probably could have been hiding it.

"Well...the G.U.N likes to capture potentially powerful people and...harness that power." He said, with fear obviously running through his eyes.

"What do you mean 'harness that power'?" I asked, fear beginning to build within my own body too. The way he had spoken those words seriously set me on edge. "The G.U.N. hasn't really given me any issue..."

"Speed if the only thing you have Sonic, you've done more damage to your enemies then they want to deal with, of course they wouldn't go to you to get that." He explained, I noticed he had a hard grip on his black metal mace. Zinex seemed to love the color black: his t-shirt, cargo pants, and boots were all black. Suddenly there was an extremely loud knocking on the door.

"Sonic! I know you're in there!" I heard a voice yell through the door, it sounded exactly like Tails. I looked at Zinex, whose eyes were wider than I had ever seen them. He quickly put a finger to his lips, then beckoned me to follow him. As much as I wanted to run to the door, open it, and greet Tails, I knew Zinex meant the best. I wasn't ready to go back to my old life, in fact I wished it wasn't knocking on the door. I quickly followed Zinex as he entered his room, which was cluttered with a bunch of random stuff. He walked over to his closet, pulled it open, then moved a large chest, revealing a small secret trap door that blended into the floor boards. He then pointed to the hole and looked at me.

I quickly understood what he wanted me to do and I jumped down into some sort of tunnel, however it was so dimly lit I could barely see anything. What I could make out was three different paths: One not lit and the other two had dimly glowing lights. Suddenly Zinex landed next to me with a thud and a grunt.

"Follow the darkness." He told me very quietly, and I nodded my head. We then began to follow the tunnel of darkness until we came upon another three way branch off and once again, there was only one path shrouded in complete darkness. I wanted to run through this maze, and get away from the threat that we faced, but it was way too dark to see, even for me. Still, the itch to run was getting really annoying...I hated walking. It took us about an hour to navigate through the twists and turns of this maze Zinex must have built, but finally we reached the end of a tunnel and got to a small, well lit clearing of dirt that featured a sign on the bare wall that said 'You Win.'

"Wow very funny." I said sarcastically, Zinex actually laughed.

"Yeah when I made this I thought it would be unnecessarily anticlimactic, I couldn't resist." He smiled, then looked up. There was a small ladder leading up to what I assumed was another trap door. I knew that was where we had to go, but I had to ask some questions first.

"Zinex, why didn't you want me to answer the door, I'm pretty sure it was Tails. Thats one of my best friends, I don't think he meant us any harm." I asked him, he laughed again, not understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Look, this may sounds like I'm paranoid, but I think this Tails guy and you whole ex-team are going to be helping the G.U.N...well minus one person, maybe two." He told me then walked over to the ladder and leaned against it. "I mean they tell you in books and movies, the best way to defeat someone is to use their friends against them. I know it sounds cliché but seriously, they could be doing that. Now I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have the G.U.N. poking me with needles."

"Yeah, I guess your right." I muttered.

"Of course I'm right, I don't remember a time I was goddamn wrong." Zinex said and I just sighed.

"Where are we now?" I asked, moving past his sarcasm.

"Remember how I said two of your friends might not be helping the G.U.N.? Well if they aren't, they would be here." He told me, which sounded extremely mysterious, and a bit confusing. He then started climbing the ladder. "Let's hurry up, before they flood the tunnel with troops."

"Right." I muttered then began climbing after him. I couldn't help but wonder who it was, which of my friends could he possibly know? Zinex never was the type of person to tell me very much. I didn't know his last name, I didn't know where he was from, I only know who he is, not who he was. I knew he had to be running away from something, just like I was, but what was he running away from? Maybe it was a girl, maybe it was the G.U.N. I guess I wouldn't know until I got to the top of the ladder, and find whoever was on the other side.


	4. Unlikely Allies

Zinex was the first out of the tunnel, and I followed shortly after. We were in a similar place, a simple closet with the door closed.

"Another closet? Where are we?" I asked as I reached for the door, but Zinex quickly grabbed my wrist.

"Not yet, we have to be sure no one got here either." He said as he put his ear to the door, I followed suit.

"...a portal opened up in the very fabric of reality and your more concerned about Emerald Beach?" I heard a shrill female voice ask. I immediately recognized this voice. This was the voice of Amy Rose, the very girl I had been running from this whole time. What was she doing here? Who was she talking to? Why did Zinex-

"A friend of mine is in Emerald Beach. If G.U.N. gets to him, it wouldn't be very great." A deep, growling voice said. I recognized this as Shadow, my old rival.

"A friend? Since when did you keep friends?" Amy questioned incredulously, though it sounded like she was joking.

"Very funny." Shadow grunted. Zinex seemed to have found exactly what he was looking for and pulled open the door, revealing a very neat and organized room, decorated in black and red.

"Well then, I didn't expect Shadow to be so clean." I muttered, moving out of the closet. The room wasn't very big, in fact it was almost the same size as Zinex's room had been. I noticed the door to the room was closed, meaning we had privacy for at least a few moments. I turned over to Zinex, trying to give him some sort of message that I was absolutely not ready. Of course Zinex wasn't paying attention at all and was closing the trap door, putting a lock on it.

"There we go, now no one should be able to get to us." He said, standing up then turning over to the door, completely ignoring my expression. My heart starting beating extremely heavy as he walked to the door, and it was as if everything was moving in slow motion.

"Zinex wai-" I started to say but even before he reached the door, it opened and there was Shadow, glaring at me, as if he knew I was going to be there.

"Z and...Sonic. Interesting to find the two of you here." Shadow growled, his red eyes moving slowly between the two of us.

"What's up Shadow?" Zinex greeted him happily. Shadow focused on his with his normal, cold expression. How did these two know each other?

"Z" He said, shaking his head in what looked like disappointment. "Will you ever stop getting in trouble?"

"Why would I want to be an uptight guy like you?" Zinex shot back with a smile, which actually confused me. I had never seen Shadow happy to see anyone before this point.

"Good to see you Z." Shadow said in a genuine tone of voice. What was actually going on? "Is anyone else going to show up unannounced? Or is Sonic here the only one."

"Hes the only one." Zinex said, then another person showed up behind Shadow, the very person I didn't want to see. Amy Rose. She looked much different than she had before, going for a more battle ready style than her old girly style.

"Is that-" She started to ask.

"Sonic? Yeah thats him, are you blind?" Zinex asked with a wide grin, breaking her question and the awkwardness I had felt inside of me. I had faced evil on all fronts, of every kind, but this was seriously different.

"Its been a while Sonic." Amy said distantly, it was like she has seen a ghost or something. I looked down instinctively.

"Too long." I replied quietly, which was unlike me. This whole love thing was seriously getting annoying, I couldn't be myself.

"Alright, this sounds like the perfect time to move to the living room." Zinex said clapping his hands together. "Its a bit awkward in here."

He then pushed past Shadow, and walked out into what looked like a lavish open living room. It was decorated in a flower pattern, completely different than the pattern I had seen in Shadows room. I could immediately tell this was not the doing of Shadow, but rather Amy. If that was so, then did that mean-

"Before we discuss anything, I feel its fair for you to tell these two why the G.U.N. is after you so badly." Shadow said, sitting on one of the flower couches, with Amy taking a seat very close to him, nearly sitting on top of him. Were they-

"I'd rather not endanger anyone beyond what they should know. There's no reason at all why these two need to know." Zinex said, cutting off my whole thought process, then looking at his hands as he sat in one of the chairs opposite of Amy and Shadow. "The one thing they do need to know is we need to find Dr. Robotniks location, and fast."

"Are you trying to get us killed?" Amy asked in a higher pitched voice than normal, sitting up defensively. Zinex turned to her and sighed.

"I know you don't exactly have the best relationship with Robotnik, but the G.U.N. is exponentially worse." Zinex said, making Amy get even more defensive.

"Eggman literally turned helpless animals into robots to kill us!" She said loudly.

"And the G.U.N. has been experimenting on them in order to create perfect killing machines so that way they can exact their take over of Mobius. In my humble opinion, thats a bit worse." He explained, leaning back in his chair. Amy opened her mouth to say more, but quickly closed it, realizing she had nothing to say. "Listen, I know Robotnik has done some really insane stuff, but look around us. The Ultimate life form, The hero of Mobius, me, and someone further from evil as can be. All hunted by the G.U.N. by this point. What other option do we have?"

"Well Zinex, even if thats the case, we have no clue where Egghead is, he hasn't been physically seen in a year. All we've seen is his robots." I pointed out.

"Its floating in the middle of the ocean." Shadow said in his growling tone, everyone looked to him and he sighed. "Obviously, if his robots have been coming in on boats all over the coast, hes somewhere in the ocean. Knowing Robotnik, he's probably in the most out of the way place possible. Which leaves only one spot."

"Where's that?" I questioned quickly. Shadow stood up, and grabbed a map off the coffee table that was placed between all of us. He opened it up, showing the ocean and a part of the coast. I could just barely see Emerald Beach on the right side. He then moved his finger to a point directly in the middle of the map, in a place called 'Unknown Capsius.'

"You aren't serious, he went there?" Zinex questioned incredulously, and Shadow nodded.

"What is that place?" I asked curiously, Zinex quickly turned to me before anyone else could.

"This place contains a lot of reality distortion, its pretty unstable to be honest, so the fact hes there is a miracle." He explained, which kind of went over my head. I wasn't the biggest person when it came to science.

"I don't quite, um, understand what that means." I muttered leaning back in my chair.

"Basically Faker, it's a place where things might not make the most sense, whether that be good or bad for us is up to fate itself." Shadow grumbled.


End file.
